Audiences may still be shaken by the sheer terror that haunted the young teens of the 2017 Stephen King adaptation “It,” but most of the grown-up main characters in the sequel have forgotten. Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t stay that way.

“It: Chapter Two” (★★★ out of four; rated R; in theaters Friday nationwide) packs enough monsters and scares in its 2 hours and 45 minutes to satiate gore hounds. It’s also an ambitious, thought-provoking work that aims for more: While not as tight or affecting as the original tale, in which the Losers’ Club first faced the evil Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard), “Chapter Two” tackles themes of memory and childhood trauma, exploring its characters' crippling loss of innocence decades after smacking down a dancing clown.

Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) is back to enticing young children to their doom in the horror sequel "It: Chapter Two."(Photo: BROOKE PALMER)

It’s the sequel, so you know he does. But 27 years later, our heroes have moved away and onto successful careers that reflect their younger personalities: Bill (James McAvoy) is a successful horror writer, Stan (Andy Bean) an accountant, Richie (Bill Hader) a popular stand-up comedian. Only Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) stayed in town, which is why he alone remembers everything that happened when they were kids.

When residents start going missing in Derry and creepy messages like “Come home” appear, Mike rings up the Losers. Their reunion at a Chinese restaurant is one of the movie's best scenes, as they fall back quickly into old friendships. Some things have changed: Formerly cherubic Ben (Jay Ryan) is now ripped and looks very different to his childhood crush, Bev (Jessica Chastain), and there’s a really neat moment where his adoration meets her own gradual recognition.

Bill (James McAvoy) faces more than one clown in a frightful funhouse sequence in "It: Chapter Two."(Photo: BROOKE PALMER)

That meet-up ends in frightening fashion – there’s something seriously wrong with the fortune cookies – and foists a quest upon the group in which they discover the origins of the dark force cursing Derry. Each has to do his or her part leading up to a final face-off with Pennywise.

Director Andy Muschietti deploys Pennywise sparingly; it's a smart decision, because it makes the villain's appearances special, and Skarsgard finds new ways to totally freak you out, even in a surprisingly human fashion. Other monsters stalk the characters, including an old lady Bev visits who transforms into something truly gnarly. But there’s also a brutal streak to the film, from a hate crime early on to instances of domestic abuse.

Needed levity arrives courtesy of Hader, a crucial scene stealer whose Richie always has one foot on the gas pedal out of town but lends gut-wrenching emotion, too. Chastain and James Ransone (as adult Eddie) uncannily match their younger counterparts in look and persona. And Mustafa, best known as the Old Spice guy from commercials, has an impressive breakout with plenty of gravitas – his Mike is the most tortured yet also the most hopeful of the Losers.

However solid the grown-ups are, the youngsters together – whether in the first film or the sequel – make “It” shine. But no matter what age the Losers, Muschietti inherently understands and captures what King does on the page: Even amid nonstop horrors – spider-legged severed heads, a demonic giant Paul Bunyan or that rascally Pennywise – the power of faith and friendship is what matters most.

Posted!

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Evil clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) returns to threaten the adult Losers' Club in the Stephen King sequel "It: Chapter Two," the latest in a busy year of horror films. Here are the best scare fests of 2019, ranked: BROOKE PALMER

18. "Child's Play": High-tech doll Chucky (left, voiced by Mark Hamill) is a friend to the end for Andy (Gabriel Bateman) – which leads to some violent outcomes in this savvy remake of the 1988 cult classic. ERIC MILNER

15. "The Perfection": Logan Browning (left) and Allison Williams star as two cello prodigies who trained at the same academy as kids and later reconnect in a fateful way in the musically tinged thriller. NETFLIX

9. "Velvet Buzzsaw": A gallery owner (Rene Russo) and eccentric art critic (Jake Gyllenhaal) are enamored with the found masterworks of a random dead man in the satirical gore-fest. CLAUDETTE BARIUS/NETFLIX

8. "I Trapped the Devil": Two estranged brothers' impromptu Christmas family reunion takes a turn for the weird when one of them locks a stranger in the basement in the slow-burn horror film. IFC FILMS

5. "Horror Noire": Tony Todd, star of the 1990s "Candyman" franchise, is one of the luminaries interviewed for the documentary, which explores the complicated relationship between horror and black audiences. SHUDDER

4. "It: Chapter Two": Isaiah Mustafa (far left), Bill Hader, James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain and Jay Ryan play grown-up members of the Losers' Club forced to revisit a childhood nightmare and deal with an evil force that's returned to their Maine hometown. BROOKE PALMER